Cob Village – One Community Pod 3

The Cob Village will provide 20 resident units and 8 visitor units with a social/recreational/developmental focus of artistic and creative expression. In support of this, this village will provide a central playhouse and presentation structure and 4 different wings dedicated to art and creativity. Each wing will feature a different large-scale maker’s space and a separate large-scale social and recreation space. The village will house 30-50 people and be open source shared with all the same details, and level of detail, used in the Earthbag Village and Straw Bale Villages.

Note: We are currently seeking those who consider themselves experts in any one of the above areas to help us design each of the maker’s spaces. If you’d like to help, CLICK HERE.

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WHAT IS A COB VILLAGE

Cob is an ancient building material composed of dirt, straw and water that may have been used for construction since prehistoric times. Some of the oldest man-made structures in Afghanistan are composed of rammed earth and cob and still standing! We will build the cob village to offer another open source self-sufficient and self-replicating teacher/demonstration community, village, and city option for community living, eco-tourism establishment, and global propagation and education.

The One Community Cob Village | Concept Render (click to enlarge)

This village will also offer 4 maker’s spaces. These maker spaces will provide creative and educational space for all residents and visitors and the central hall will provide large-scale dining and seating for 200+ people with two stages for presentations of artistic creations, dance, comedy, and theater. The maker’s spaces are in the North half of each living space and will include:

WHY A COB VILLAGE

Cob construction has been used for thousands of years, can be formed into most shapes and is very sustainable as a building material. As One Community continues open sourcing large-scale sustainable village models, the Cob Village will utilize the remaining straw from Pod 2 (and more as needed) to demonstrate what is possible with large-scale sustainable construction using cob and rammed earth. The maker’s spaces and associated living spaces will house top artists interested in sharing their gifts and creative talents with One Community, each other, the world through open source videos and classes, and visitors as part of the One Community fulfilled living model and their community contribution towards further development of the 7 sustainable villages and internships within the Highest Good education program.

The One Community Cob Village | Concept Render – Front View

ADVANTAGES OF COB CONSTRUCTION

The Advantages of cob construction are many:

Artistic construction: Building artistically with cob is very easy because the substance is so pliable. When you build with cob, you are literally building your walls one small lump of material at a time. This makes sweeping curves, slopes, waves, and geometric designs easy to sculpt with cob

Abundant building materials: Made with clay, sand, and straw

Cob is energy-efficient because it has high thermal mass, meaning it can soak up unwanted heat during the daytime and release it at night when outside temperatures cool down. In addition, because cob homes are not angular and rigid, structural openings for windows can be carved in at the perfect orientation to take full advantage of indigenous sun angles (for the harvest of natural light and the sun’s passive solar heat)

Long lasting: Cob is a very old building method. There are homes that still standing today in Wales, United Kingdom, that are at least 500 years old

Fireproof: Cob does not burn

Termite proof: The soil, sand, clay, and straw found in cob does not taste delicious to termites, burrowing insects, or rodents, which makes cob immune to the attack of destructive pests;

Strong earthquake resistance: Because the straw, which is part of the cob mix, acts like a natural re-bar to hold the whole structure together as one monolithic piece. This makes cob homes extremely solid and resistant

Anyone can build with cob: It is not required to be an expert to help in the building process. Even children can help build in many instances

Supports community involvement: Building a home with cob is best done with a group and the experience, while very hard work, has been described as “transformational” for the group involved

Healthy: Because cob homes eschew the use of manufactured materials that flake and outgas, indoor air is kept pure, clean and free of pollutants, making these homes ideal for those who struggle with allergies. Cob is also a naturally porous material, so cob walls will “breathe” quite readily, and this will help keep indoor air circulating efficiently

Artistic: Because of cob’s wonderful pliability, the interior of a cob house can be shaped and formed to include niches, grooves, natural shelves, and benches that emerge directly from the walls

Quiet: Earthen walls absorb sound marvelously regardless of the source, so indoor sounds do not reverberate and outdoor noise fails to penetrate

Biodegradable, recyclable, and the material’s color reflects the local soil to blend in aesthetically

Cob, dug and mixed on site manually removes the need for transportation and the resulting carbon emissions

Low energy use during construction and no pollution produced during the building process either

LIMITATIONS/DISADVANTAGES
OF COB CONSTRUCTION

Cob construction also has some limitations:

Hard to get permitted: Cob can be very difficult to get permitted because cob is not covered by building codes, which gives county administrators great leeway when deciding whether or not to issue building permits for these sorts of structures. In urban and suburban environments, approval might be all but impossible, while in other areas you might have to involve a structural engineer and an architect in the process before a building permit can be issued

Very labor intensive during construction: While it is theoretically possible to build a cob house of any size, because of the time and labor involved and the desire most have to keep costs down, anything larger than a moderate-sized two-bedroom home might not be practical. If the goal is to construct a full-time residence, cob is undoubtedly best suited for individuals, couples, and small families; it is always a great choice for smaller structures, however, like cabins, art studios, or tree houses;

Poor insulatory properties: Because it is porous, cob is not a very good insulating material. Of course, insulation can be added to walls, ceilings, and under floors, but even then cob houses would still be difficult to keep warm in really cold climates such as those found in the northern United States. Cob houses are excellent for those who live in desert climates, where cob’s high thermal mass properties can regulate indoor temperatures quite effectively, and they work just fine in places where it does not freeze much in the winter. But in frigid locations they would consume too much energy (for wintertime heating) to be practical

Needs drying time: The build process is slow – up to 15 months to allow phases to dry

Will shrink: After completion, it can take several months for building to finish shrinking

Larger than average space needs: Wall thickness means a new cob home requires a larger footprint than a “normal” home

Relatively few builders are skilled in using, constructing or repairing cob

Construction cannot take place in wet weather and is therefore largely restricted to dry Summer months

Cob is susceptible to water damage

ADDITIONAL COB VILLAGE DETAILS

All aspects of the Cob Village will be open sourced for replication as either individual components or as part of the complete village. Just as we are doing with the Duplicable City Center, Earthbag Village (Pod 1), and Straw Bale Villages. Once those three are complete, we will produce for this village the same level of detail for the materials lists, build-time and labor details, construction plans, permitting needs and strategies, and much more for all components. Here are additional images and overviews of some of the key components of this this village:

SUMMARY

Pod 3 is designed to demonstrate large-scale sustainable housing that is maximally artistic and creative. It will also provide large-scale maker’s spaces for artistic, functional, and sustainable enrichment of One Community. In addition to this, the Cob Village is expected to house our first full-time artist community members. Living in these residences, there should be sufficient need that full-time artist members of One Community (if they so desire) will be able to contribute 100% of their community contribution time to applying and sharing their artistic skills through open source classes and creations offered as part of our positive global transformation goals, Highest Good Education program, and development of the rest of the One Community villages and property.

FREQUENTLY ANSWERED QUESTIONS

Q: Where can I get more information about your philosophies for world change?

Please take a look at each of these additional pages: (click icons)

Q: What were the initial inspirations for these designs?

With 7 villages to be designed, and a desire for artistic and unique appearances that also had a deeper relationship to the purpose/intent of each village, we drew inspiration from the 7-chakra system from Hinduism and Tantric Buddhism and the Japanese 5-elements philosophy.

Note: One Community does not endorse or subscribe to any one spiritual philosophy. You can read more about our philosophy on spirituality and religion on our Spirituality Page.

The Cob Village was designed thinking of the Solar Plexus (3rd) Chakra from Hinduism and Tantric Buddhism and the Fire Element (“ka” & “hi”-“huǒ”) from the Japanese 5-elements philosophy. These ideas coincided with the maker-space and creative expression focus of this village. Further inspiration for each of the different wings of this village came from thinking of music, weaving, painting, and sculpting and choosing room and roof designs that represented each of these. The associated color of “yellow” helped develop the color palette for this village and we further aligned, diversified, and distinguished the purpose and intent of the village by looking at One Community’s core values and focusing on the values of Diversity, Freedom, Contribution, and Personal Growth.

Cob Village Color Palette – Click for High-Resolution PDF

To further share the design process for this village, here are some of the initial renders and design drawings:

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